Book a Week 2017 - BW31: Adventurous August

[Robin M]

Happy Sunday and welcome to week 31 in our 2017 adventurous prime reading year. Greetings to all our readers and those following our progress. Mister Linky is available weekly on 52 Books in 52 Weeks  to share a link to your book reviews.

 

 

We are officially celebrating the dog days of summer with a couple weeks of triple digit temperatures in my home state. Which is why I'm ready to do some armchair traveling as we welcome Adventurous August and travel to Scotland, welcome our author of the month Dorothy Dunnett, as well as this month's birthstones: Peridot, Spinel and Sardonyx. August is also Admit You Are Happy and Romance Month as well as National Golf and Eye Exam month.  Plus, let's not forget Ice Cream Sandwich, Watermelon, Chocolate Chip Cookie and S'mores day as well as the all important Book Lovers Day, Bad Poetry day and Just Because day. 

 

We have three birthstones to choose from this month with Peridot, Spinel and Sardonyx. You may choose to spell out the word, reading one book per letter or  read a book with the name or the colors of the stone in the title.  Mix it up a bit and use author names to spell out the stones.   You may decide to find a book set in the time period where the birthstone was discovered or surrounding the myth and lore or set in countries where the birthstone is currently found.

 

The original birthstone for August is Sardonyx, a combination of Sard and Onyx which is a variety of quartz and was found in the ancient Persian city of Sard.  Peridot is quite ancient and has been found in pallasite meteorites and was also found in comet dust from the 2005 Stardust robotic space probe. Ancient Egyptians mined peridot on the red sea island of Zabargad.   Spinel, found in ancient times in the mines of central and southeast Asia, were often mistaken for rubies. The stone is differentiated by it's crystal structure.  The Black Prince's ruby as well as the Timur Ruby turned out to be spinel.  

 

Our armchair travels are taking us into the world of Scottish literature as we virtually ride along for Edinburgh International Book Festival and be a fly on the wall for Beyond Borders International Festival as well as Edinburgh's Book Fringe celebration. Visit the Writers Museum and dive into the lives of three great Scottish writers:  Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott and Robert Louis Stevenson.  Plus don't forget to visit Abbotsford, the home of Sir Walter Scott. And we can't forget the fictional world of Outlander.  

 

While you are busy following rabbit trails, check out 20 Scottish books everyone should read, 10 Books to make you fall in love with Scotland, and 10 memorable books for children and teens set in Scotland, as well as important works in the history of Scotland with the Scottish History reading list.    In my stacks to read this month is Niccolo Rising from the House of Niccolo series written by Dorothy Dunnett whom I'll talk about next week.  

 

Happy reading! 

 

 

*****************************************************************

 

War and Peace:  Read  Volume two – Part Three

 

Chat about what stood out for you, thoughts on storyline, setting, characters and motives as well as favorite quotes prior to this week’s reading.

 

 

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Story of Western Science:  Chapter 26 with two  more chapters to go!

 

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What are you reading this week?

 

 

Link to week 30  

[Robin M]

I've decided to go with Sardonyx for birthstone bookology read.  I started both Jordan's The Path of Daggers (ebook) and Dunnett's Niccolo Rising yesterday. (physical book)

[Jane in NC]

A good reading week for me, a chance to catch up on two of our group reads, W&P and The Story of Western Science, complete an audio book, one paper book, and move forward in another.

 

I found Volume II Part Two in W&P to be very moving as we watch how war and life affect our characters. On the first page of the section we read about Pierre:

 

 

Whatever he started thinking about, he came back to the same questions, which he could not resolve and could not stop asking himself.  It was as if the main screw in his head, which held his whole life together, had become stripped.  The screw would not go in, would not come out, but turned in the same groove without catching hold, and it was impossible to stop turning it.

 

And then there is Andrei:

 

"All I say is that what convinces one of the necessity of a future life is not arguments, but when one goes through life hand in hand with a person, and suddenly that person disappears there into nowhere, and you yourself stop before that abyss and look into it.  And I did look..."

 

 

Rostov and Boris are also changing.

 

As a reader, I do not necessarily need to like or empathize with characters, but I do want them to rise off the page, to evolve.  I am really enjoying reading this book.

 

I finished listening to an Alan Furst espionage novel, Mission to Paris, which places a Hollywood actor in an unlikely role as financial go-between in the days after the Anschloss and before the fall of France.  Furst never disappoints. An observation on the Nazi visitors to Paris is one that we always need to remember:

 

 

"These people may seem absurd but absurdity obscures the truth.  These people are dangerous."

 

Speaking of enjoyment, I found Michèle Audin's novel One Hundred Twenty-One Days to be fascinating.  From the back cover:

 

 

This debut novel by renowned mathematician Michèle Audin--only the second book ever published in English by a female member of the prestigious and influential Oulipo--follows the lives of French mathematicians through the World Wars.  Oscillating stylistically from chapter to chapter--at times a novel, fable, historical research, diary--One Hundred Twenty-One Days locks and unlocks historical codes as it unravels the tragic entanglement of politics and science, culminating in a wholly original and emotionally powerful reading experience.

 

Emotionally powerful for me but not a book for anyone needing a linear tale.  Professor VC might be intrigued...(Sorry, I have a library copy so I cannot send this on.)

 

More on Oulipo here.

 

And I continue to make progress in the Laxness novel, Independent People. 

 

In the biology section of The Story of Western Science, I was reminded of a story I once heard about E.O. Wilson and Stephen Jay Gould, whose philosophical feud is discussed in the book. Apparently Wilson was giving a lecture when Gould walked on stage, grabbed the glass of water near the podium, and dumped it on Wilson's head. I have no idea if this is true but apparently both believed the other was all wet.

[Robin M]

 

More on Oulipo here.

Great articles. I learned about Oulipo's a few years back in a class and had fun putting a couple together with different restraints. For one I came up with the idea to do serial sentences, picking random books and plugging together a bunch of sentences. I gave myself a constraint.  I started with ten books of varying lengths. Started with book one, chapter one, line one...book two, chapter two, line two, and so on up to line 25. Then I started over again at line one.  I kept going until I ran out of chapters, set aside that book and continue until used up all the books.  99 sentences which I juggled a little in order for things to make a modicum of sense and was mostly successful.  In the process discovered rule breaking, copious ‘was’ and ‘that’ and ‘ly’ adverbs.  All from well know mystery authors.  Interesting.   

[Chrysalis Academy]

I have fond memories of a trip to Scotland when I was an 8th grader. Edinburgh, Dunoon, Loch Lomond and Loch Ness stick out in my mind. Macbeth is my favorite Scottish book (The Scottish Play . . . ) but I put several more on my TR list from the links Robin posted.

 

I'm currently reading Katherine the Queen, Bridge of Birds, The Dispossessed, Caucasia, and Soulless. The latter is my Steampunk Bingo book. I'm still not entirely sure what Steampunk is, but it seems to involve an alternative version of Victorian London, with dirigibles.  Soulless is completely entertaining. Sort of like The Grand Sophy, if Charles was a cranky werewolf instead of a cranky baronet's son.

 

Yesterday I finished listening to Freedom at Midnight. This was a book from a recent link, where ambassadors from different countries recommended a book to help you understand their country. This was the Indian ambassador's suggestion. It covered, in great detail and with meticulous research, the events from just before the partition up to the assassination of Gandhi. Along with much history of the Indian subcontinent as well. It has definitely helped create context for understanding today's India & Pakistan. But it was a very difficult listen. I knew that there was conflict with the partition, but I had no idea the extent of the conflict, or the brutality practiced by all three major religious groups against the others. I am now better informed, but it was a brutal education.  I will say that the audio was an excellent production: the reader was more of a voice actor than simply a reader; he had distinct, appropriate voices for each major character, from Mountbatten to Nehru to Jinnah to Gandhi. It added a lot to the presentation. OTOH, as we've discussed in the past, sometimes it's hard to listen to audio presentations of stories with great violence & brutality. When you're reading, you can skim, look away, close the book for awhile. When you're listening, you can be more of a captive audience. It was a tough listen.

[Jane in NC]

Great articles. I learned about Oulipo's a few years back in a class and had fun putting a couple together with different restraints. For one I came up with the idea to do serial sentences, picking random books and plugging together a bunch of sentences. I gave myself a constraint.  I started with ten books of varying lengths. Started with book one, chapter one, line one...book two, chapter two, line two, and so on up to line 25. Then I started over again at line one.  I kept going until I ran out of chapters, set aside that book and continue until used up all the books.  99 sentences which I juggled a little in order for things to make a modicum of sense and was mostly successful.  In the process discovered rule breaking, copious ‘was’ and ‘that’ and ‘ly’ adverbs.  All from well know mystery authors.  Interesting.   

 

Your post reminded me that you had written about this before here (BaW 2015 post).  When I read that  author Michèle Audin is a member of Oulipo, the French organization, I failed to make a connection between the group and the writing style they promote and which you had addressed.

 

Interesting indeed!

,

[Lori D.]

... Soulless... is my Steampunk Bingo book. I'm still not entirely sure what Steampunk is, but it seems to involve an alternative version of Victorian London, with dirigibles.

 

lol.

 

Don't know what all is on your Steampunk list, but a year or two ago I had fun with Scott Westerfeld's fluff Young Adult trilogy of Leviathan, Behemoth, Goliath.

[Mothersweets]

Because of Mr. Terupt by Rob Buyea. 3 and 1/2 stars .My 10yo's teacher is reading this to the class and I wanted to read along. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7783920-because-of-mr-terupt

 

The Leaf Reader by Emily Arsenault. 3 and 1/2 stars.  Interesting YA novel about a girl who starts reading tea leaves for her friends but then ends up finding out more than she bargained for. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32302187-the-leaf-reader

 

Still plugging along in War and Peace and making side trips into:

 

Warleggan, Poldark #4 by Winston Grahame

 

Blue at the Mizzen (Master and Commander #20, I think?) by Patrick O'Brian

 

and Autumn by Susan Branch - I love her stuff!!

Edited July 30, 2017 by Mothersweets

[mumto2]

I currently have one book set in Scotland in progress, Summerhills by DE Stevenson https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6388333-summerhills. It is great so far but the copy I was fortunate to get via my library is quite fragile so I need to read carefully!

 

I still have many books in progress.....too many. My plan is to finish The Last Templar very soon. It's the first in a series set in the middle ages in Devon (mainly) and it has a nice feel to it.

 

I also need to finish The Ritual Bath by Faye Kellerman which is a reread from many years ago. I recently recommended it to a friend who I later discovered is a very gentle reader in terms of mystery books and am wondering exactly what I suggested, hence the reread.

 

I think I will skip the Dunnett for this month at least. I had planned to read them but Sarum just came in on my Overdrive. I suspect that and the remainder of War and Peace is all I can handle in terms of chunky.

[Negin]

I read Child 44 - 4 Stars - This crime fiction, thriller-type book is set in Communist Russia towards the end of Stalin’s rule, in the early 1950s. The author does a fabulous job detailing the harshness and terrible conditions that people had to go through, as well as all the political intrigues, sense of paranoia, and overall fear. My only criticism is that the ending was a bit melodramatic for me.

 

and We Go Out - 5 Stars - Another hilarious book in this series – these are so funny, but again, not everyone will appreciate this sort of humor. 

 

and Mourning Diary - 2 Stars - Since this is a diary, that by the way was not meant to be published, I knew going in that it would be a slightly different read than usual, but let me just say that it was a bit strange. Roland Barthes, a literary theorist, philosopher, and linguist, wrote this immediately after the trauma of his mother’s death. There were some wonderful quotes, which I’m listing below, but other than that, this was quite boring. I may have appreciated it somewhat if I was familiar with Barthes’s work.

 

Some quotes that I liked:

“The measurement of mourning: eighteen months for mourning a father, a mother.â€

 

“Paradoxically (since people say: Work, amuse yourself, see friends) it’s when we’re busy, distracted, sought out, exteriorized, that we suffer most. Inwardness, calm, solitude makes us less miserable.â€

 

“It is said that Time soothes mourning – No, Time makes nothing happen; it merely makes the emotivity of mourning pass.†

 

     

 

Another picture that we took of Shakespeare and Company, if you're not sick of them yet. 

 

 

MY RATING SYSTEM

5 Stars

Fantastic, couldn't put it down

4 Stars

Really Good

3 Stars

Enjoyable

2 Stars

Just Okay – nothing to write home about

1 Star

Rubbish – waste of my money and time. Few books make it to this level, since I usually give up on them if they’re that bad. 

[Jane in NC]

Dunnett's House of Niccolo series consists of eight books, two of which I have yet to read. But with W&P and other summer distractions ahead, I am not sure I will be getting on board this month. A good reminder though that I am closing in on the end of this amazing series. I may have my arm twisted...

[Violet Crown]

Between dh and me we've read through a healthy chunk of the Scottish Books Everyone Should Read; though I need to get going on the Boswell and Lanark.

 

This week I was inspired by the discussion of (mockery regarding, whatever) '70s era literature - which I did read a fair amount of in the '80s! (she said defensively) - to read The Stories of Breece D'J Pancake, a young man who might have been among the great writers of the 20th century, had he not committed suicide only two years after his work began to be published, leaving us with only twelve finished stories. The collection, stories written between 1977 and 1979 and published in 1983, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. Joyce Carol Oates reviews the collection here - http://www.nytimes.com/1983/02/13/books/pancake-stories.html - though she makes a couple of errors (two of the stories in fact have female protagonists; and she somehow misunderstands the plot of "In the Dry"). Pancake ought to be better known.

 

Now I'm returning to Francis Bacon's Essays, and alternating them with A Light in the Heavens: The Great Encyclical Letters of Pope Leo XIII, which is very good reading for those of us who like that kind of thing. Whichever I finish first will be book 52!

Edited July 30, 2017 by Violet Crown

[Lady Florida.]

Other than Persuasion, I didn't finish anything last week. 

 

I'm currently reading War and Peace, The Brothers Karamazov, The Radium Girls, and listening to The Histories. My Goodreads Currently Reading shelf probably shows more, but these are the ones I'm actively reading or listening to. I'm happy with the significant progress I've made in each book. 

 

It's interesting reading both War and Peace and The Brothers Karamazov and seeing how very different these two writers are. Many Russian writers are often lumped together as just that - The Russian Writers - but as with writers in any country from any time period they're not at all alike. For the record, I prefer Tolstoy.

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday I finished listening to Freedom at Midnight. This was a book from a recent link, where ambassadors from different countries recommended a book to help you understand their country. This was the Indian ambassador's suggestion. It covered, in great detail and with meticulous research, the events from just before the partition up to the assassination of Gandhi. Along with much history of the Indian subcontinent as well. It has definitely helped create context for understanding today's India & Pakistan. But it was a very difficult listen. I knew that there was conflict with the partition, but I had no idea the extent of the conflict, or the brutality practiced by all three major religious groups against the others. I am now better informed, but it was a brutal education.  I will say that the audio was an excellent production: the reader was more of a voice actor than simply a reader; he had distinct, appropriate voices for each major character, from Mountbatten to Nehru to Jinnah to Gandhi. It added a lot to the presentation. OTOH, as we've discussed in the past, sometimes it's hard to listen to audio presentations of stories with great violence & brutality. When you're reading, you can skim, look away, close the book for awhile. When you're listening, you can be more of a captive audience. It was a tough listen.

 

The partition and its conflicts were alluded to in A Suitable Boy so I did go on a rabbit trail looking things up while I was reading that novel. This book sounds interesting. My library doesn't have it in any format so I downloaded the Kindle sample. It's only $4.99 so if the sample interests me enough I might just buy it.

[Onceuponatime]

Last week I finished The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova. It was a heartrending story that took place in Bulgaria under communist rule. I found it a slow moving book with lots of tension, but engaging enough to keep my attention.

 

I also read Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (3rd time) for my book club. I could more easily recognize sociological attitudes of the day in the story this time around, since I've been studying sociology lately. Especially interesting was his description of Hyde, which jived with the mid 19th century sociologist's description of the body type of a man with a deviant nature. I feel sorry for all the short hairy guys out there who were assumed to be sociopaths.

 

I'm currently reading Wicked Uncle by Patricia Wentworth.

 

P.S. Ds3 finished that summer college course and did great, in spite of the nerves. I was very proud. He ended up stepping up as the leader in a group project! Next hurdle, a full load in the fall.

Edited July 30, 2017 by Onceuponatime

[mumto2]

I have been looking at the gemstones and I think I am going to spell Peridot but might switch to Spinel. No x for me this month! ;) I don't think either can found in a book title I have access to so tentatively plan to try a book set in Norway because Peridot is mined there apparently.

[aggieamy]

We are on our way to Tennessee and DD is in the backseat reading a Terry Pratchett book (Mort). Lots of giggles. Thanks for the suggestion ladies.

[Ali in OR]

I didn't read much in W&P this week, but I was a little ahead since I didn't take a week off. So I'm still somewhere in the middle of Volume 2 part 3.

 

I'm trying to get to my kids' summer reading. I'm somewhere in the middle of Rogue River Journal (forget author) which will count as my local author Bingo Square. It's a memoir written by a literary non-fiction author who spent a winter away from human society on the Rogue River in southern Oregon. Nice descriptive writing interspersed with memories of his father, a labor union organizer in the 30's-60's. Good, but not quick reading.

 

Feeling behind in all of that, I picked up one of my youngest's 2 assigned books to try to get it done while she was reading the heftier one. Spare Parts is non-fiction about a robotics team in Phoenix made up of mostly illegal immigrants in a poor high school far from any ocean who win a marine robotic rover competition against college teams including MIT. A good and thankfully quick read--that's the only thing I finished this week.

[Mom-ninja.]

I finished The Rosie Effect and started Becoming Brillant.  

 

As for the Don Tillman books, I liked them and thought they were funny. However, am I the only one that found Rosie annoying? 

Edited July 31, 2017 by Mom-ninja.

[Angelaboord]

I have not caught up on last week's thread, but I notice that I missed the week everyone listed their favorite SFF titles! For a long while that's mostly what I read, and it's the genre I actually write in, too (fantasy, not SF). But something happened about 2005 and I switched to reading mainly nonfiction. Probably not coincidentally, I also stopped writing fiction for the most part. Having 4 kids in 4 years around then probably also had something to do with it.

 

I don't know if anyone has mentioned CJ Cherryh, but I have always been a big fan. I guess she's kind of "80's" although she wasn't on the 80's list, but my favorites by her are her Foreigner series, Downbelow Station (both SF), her Fortress in the Eye of Time series and her Rusalka series (fantasy). One of my favorite books ever is Joan D. Vinge's Snow Queen (a SF retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale), but I also like her Cat books, Psion and Catspaw. (It's been a long time since I read those books, though!). As far as fantasy goes, Robin Hobb is probably my favorite author, but you have to start at the beginning with her, Assassin's Apprentice.

 

Actually, both books I read last week were writing books related to fantasy fiction. I reread Rachel Aaron's How to Go From 2K to 10K, which I think Amy recommended, and since I was reading it this time with my big mess of a novel spread out in front of me (figuratively anyway) I think I appreciated it more. That is an excellent book.

 

I also finished Deborah Chester's Fantasy Fiction Formula, which I think was recommended by ErinE? I liked it, too, particularly the plotting and revision bits, but I thought it was a bit weak in characterization. I have never read any of her books, so I went to Goodreads and read some reviews of her novels, and that's pretty much what many of her readers said, too. I'm coming at this from a point at which I've probably written "a million words of junk", but I haven't written consistently for a long time and all those skills are pretty rusty. It is definitely helping me make sense of my plot, though, and I think her advice on how to cut tens of thousands of words if you have to was great.

 

The week before, I think I read two Book of the Month selections: Goodbye, Vitamin and American Fire: Love, Arson, and Life in a Vanishing Land. I don't think I reported that I finished them. Goodbye, Vitamin was ok, at least not a tearjerker considering that it dealt with a father's Alzheimer's and his daughter's decision to move home to help care for him. American Fire (nonfiction) was better, but the author seemed to keep forgetting that she was trying to tie the crime into trends in rural America and then remembering and sticking something in about economic hardship.

 

This week I have another writing book coming from Amazon, The Emotional Craft of Fiction: How to Write the Story Beneath the Surface by Donald Maass. I have Tim Powers' Declare on my kindle and a bunch of books I should be reading for homeschooling. But since it is Dorothy Dunnett Month, I may have to take The Disorderly Knights off the shelf again and have another go at it.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Matryoshka]

Late to the party today! :D

 

I finished a whole bunch of books this week!  I seem to have been energized by organizing/prioritizing my Big Bingo reads...  a couple of books were fast and short, but I also managed a Chunky.   :ohmy:

 

77. The Sympathizer (ebook) - I really liked this book.  The narrator can see both sides of things, and tries to do the right thing but is not quite sure if he gets it right.  This is mirrored in his two best friends, one of whom is firmly in the US camp, the other is Viet Cong, and he's fiercely loyal to both of them.  I also enjoyed the way the author writes. 5 stars.

 

78. Perseopolis - one of the quick and easy ones; a graphic novel about a girl growing up in revolutionary Iran. 4 stars.

 

79. The Fold - for my SciFi book club.  So.many.pop.culture.references.  This book will be outdated by the end of the year.  All the themes are pulled from tons of other SciFi books and movies, but apparently that's okay if the characters point it out.  And our hero of course ends up with a nubile and brainy chick with the hots for him - well after the original who didn't want to be touched gets pulled into a parallel universe and the other one replaces her.  Yeah, finished this one in a day with no problem.  Short paragraphs, short sentences, short words, not a lot of thinking required, inoffensive enough if that's what you're looking for.  2 stars.

 

80. Schattenfuchs / The Blue Fox by Sjón - another short one.  Very poetic.  Set in 19th century Iceland.  Makes more sense if you realize the original Icelandic title was Skugga-Baldur, which apparently is a mythical creature which is half fox/half cat with magical powers.  Skugga means shadow (Schatten in German), Baldur is a Norse god who gives off light.  The character who hunts the fox is named Baldur Skuggasón, so the connection was much more obvious in the original, but pretty much untranslatable.  I liked the story but found myself slightly annoyed because the fox in the book is described repeatedly as being black instead of white like most Arctic foxes, implied that it's super-rare hypermelanism mutation (unless you go in for the magical creature explanation).  But black either way (and not blue either, English translators!).  But the fox on the covers of all the books are either white Arctic foxes, or on the German cover, a red fox!  But that has nothing to do with the book itself, just whoever picked the cover art. ;)  There are two stories in the book, the story of the man hunting the fox and the story of a man who adopted an abandoned child with Down's syndrome. This one was for the 'Author uses a penname' square. 3 stars.

 

81. Middlesex (ebook) - Rather interestingly told story.  So many themes - immigration, war, racism, incest and inbreeding, genetic defects, gender-identity.  Told in a bit of a roundabout way going from the 1st-person narrator's present back to the past.  But I rather liked it.  This was the chunky one, and I chose it for my Oprah's Book Club square. 4 stars.

 

82. River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt's Darkest Journey - This was quite an interesting read.  I'd never heard of this adventure of TR's, probably because it was after he'd left public office.  The author brings in all sorts of information about rainforest biology, geology, and the politics of Brazil esp. vis-a-vis the native populations, as well as telling an engaging story about the adventure (which was rife with misadventures!). 4 stars.

 

Currently reading:

 

- The Essex Serpent (audiobook) - guess part of why I read more of my other books this week was less driving, which meant less audiobook time, so I'm still only about halfway.  Very much still making up my mind what I'm going to end up thinking about this book (as well as which Big Bingo square it will end up in).

 

- Del amor y otros demonios / Of Love and Other Demons (ebook) by García Márquez - needed something for my Magic Realism square, and didn't feel up to tackling the intimidating Cien años de soledad... this is much shorter and available on Overdrive (and the hold hasn't quite released on the ebook I was thinking of reading next, so I needed a shortish one).  In spite of the fact that García Márquez continues to perplex with vocab that often doesn't even show up in the Spanish/American dictionary (good thing I'm good at context!), I'm making decent progress.

 

- W&P - I did also manage to keep up on my W&P reading, so I'll be tackling V2 part 3 this week.  Lately I'm finding myself annoyed with Boris.  Question to those reading translations other than Maude: Does Denisov talk like Elmer Fudd in your translation too?

 

 

Coming up: 

 

Assuming it comes off hold fairly soon (I'm first in line now), my next ebook will be The Golem and the Jinni.  For my next audio, I'm thinking Ocean at the End of the Lane.  I'm going to make some kind of a decision whether to finish the Kempis or read Essays on Mysticism.  I've got Deadeye Dick and the first in the Warriors series out from the library (the latter because I needed the "Book chosen by your younger daughter" square filled, and yep, that's her recommendation).

 

And as much as I've been organizing Big Bingo, I keep thinking of moving things around... thought I had 'Set in Europe' down a few times over, but then I keep thinking of other more obscure categories the books for that one fit, and I know I'll read more books set in Europe!  I'm also moving the book I chose for 'Set in Asia' to 'A character you'd like to be or meet', because I was having a hard time thinking of one for that, and then I realized Madame Wang fit the bill.  And again, lots of other books set in Asia.  I'm even thinking of moving my 'Icelandic' book because I was thinking I'd still like to read Independent People, which I have on hand, and I realized the book I'd already put in that category would also fit in 'Cooking', as the narrator loves to cook and even went to French cooking school.  So I think I'll hold off a bit on locking anything in. :D

 

Btw, all of those fit some Bingo square, even if I didn't say. I've even decided to put W&P in the "Character needs a saddle" square, though I probably won't finish the rest of the row...

 

 

Edited July 31, 2017 by Matryoshka

[Lady Florida.]

Rose, I saw this on the BBC News site and thought of you having just read Freedom at Midnight. 

 

A Country Divided: How it Affected Me

[Loesje22000]

While still on vacation, I finished these books last week:

 

Die Jasminschwestern (in Dutch)

Victoria (Julia Baird)

Outlander (#3)

The Hidden Library (A.M.Dean)

Tine (fictional memoires from the wife from a Dutch famous auteur)

 

Back home I started a book from Maria Duenas, Mr. CHurchills Secretary and I will pick up War and Peace again.

And of course we will attend the library today :)

[Ali in OR]

 For my next audio, I'm thinking Ocean at the End of the Lane. 

 

Yes! It's worth it just to listen to Neil Gaiman. Dd and I listened to it on a road trip late last year and I think my comment here was that I would listen to Neil Gaiman read his grocery list.

[SKL]

Hi guys.  I haven't posted in forever.  I seem to be a slow reader this year.  :P  I just finished The Grapes of Wrath on Sunday.  I didn't like it, but hey, at least I can check it off the "must read classics" list.

 

Now I'm back to the book I was reading before my late-June vacation.  Hopefully I finish it this month.

 

Our read-aloud is The Phantom Tollbooth.  I don't like it much, but it's an easy read.

 

My kids and I are listening to the audiobook Robinson Crusoe.  It's pretty interesting from a historical perspective.  The guy does go on and on at times.  It kind of reminds me of Pilgrim's Progress in that sense.  Lord I thought I'd never finish that book (back around 1985).  At least the audiobook format is pretty effortless.  :P

 

I'm wondering what audiobook to do next - I'm thinking we should listen to another of the old books that was mentioned in the newer books we've listened to.  Like Swiss Family Robinson or Treasure Island.  I know, it's hard to believe I never read these classics.  They seemed like boy books to me when I was young.

[Jane in NC]

Rose, I saw this on the BBC News site and thought of you having just read Freedom at Midnight.

 

A Country Divided: How it Affected Me

BBC Radio 4 is also airing a program marking the upcoming 70th anniversary of the partition.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08z9p9w

[fastweedpuller]

I haven't read a single book on the 20 Best Scottish Books list.  Hrmn.  odd!

 

Still exercising self-discipline with the books list, finishing the Taking Forever pile and pairing it with a current read.  Two (three) books at a time is just hard.  Scratched off Other Minds:  The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness, which was a philosophical take on evolutionary biology.  I quite enjoyed it but had a hard time getting into it at first.  The author is a philosophy professor who has an abiding interest in scuba (because of course) and has chosen the cephalopods as an object of study.  "Smart" brains, as we understand them, have developed three times along three very different animal species, the birds, some mammals, and octopuses/cuttlefish. 

 

The paired read to this was The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: the Counterintuitive Approach to Living the Good Life.  I am not quite sure what to say about this one.  Perhaps I am not its intended audience and couldn't step outside of "this is not for me" status (interesting, because the author counsels against doing exactly that, ironically not lost on me at all).  I did read it with an eye to all those friends, women mostly of a certain harried age, who post perennially uplifting aphorisms on social media...I just never understood the impetus to post such things; this book pointed out it is simply cultural.  

 

And ack! both books are of recent vintage (2016) and my other read (Pachinko) is 2017. 

 

eta: fixed URL

Edited July 31, 2017 by fastweedpuller

[ErinE]

We are on our way to Tennessee and DD is in the backseat reading a Terry Pratchett book (Mort). Lots of giggles. Thanks for the suggestion ladies.

 

I'm glad she's enjoying it. I've found all the Death mini-series in the Pratchett universe excellent reads.

 

I also finished Deborah Chester's Fantasy Fiction Formula, which I think was recommended by ErinE? I liked it, too, particularly the plotting and revision bits, but I thought it was a bit weak in characterization. I have never read any of her books, so I went to Goodreads and read some reviews of her novels, and that's pretty much what many of her readers said, too. I'm coming at this from a point at which I've probably written "a million words of junk", but I haven't written consistently for a long time and all those skills are pretty rusty. It is definitely helping me make sense of my plot, though, and I think her advice on how to cut tens of thousands of words if you have to was great.

 

 

I'm glad you found it helpful! I agree on the characterization as well, yet I liked how her book helped me analyze other people's writing to see the crafting of emotion, plot, or characterization. I had to write a scene last week and I read several passages from different books, noting the elements from each to help me in my own writing. I felt the rough draft was definitely better than had I just winged it.

 

 

 

81. Middlesex (ebook) - Rather interestingly told story.  So many themes - immigration, war, racism, incest and inbreeding, genetic defects, gender-identity.  Told in a bit of a roundabout way going from the 1st-person narrator's present back to the past.  But I rather liked it.  This was the chunky one, and I chose it for my Oprah's Book Club square. 4 stars.

 

I liked The Virgin Suicides from the same author.

 

 

Yes! It's worth it just to listen to Neil Gaiman. Dd and I listened to it on a road trip late last year and I think my comment here was that I would listen to Neil Gaiman read his grocery list.

 

He does have a lovely voice!

[ErinE]

I'm having a tough time concentrating on reading as things are hectic here. DH is working long hours, I'm potty training my youngest and the puppy, and the kids are stir-crazy from summer hours. We're spending most of our time poolside, but I think everyone is a bit sick of each other. This weekend, we traveled to see my grandfather who turned 90 last week. He walks every day, still reads books, is learning Spanish, and takes care of his pets. He's likely in better health than I am! It was lovely to see him, my siblings, nephews and nieces, and my aunts and uncles. We sat around talking about the books we were reading while playing poop dice (aka farkle), calling to mind the many times we've done the same over the years. 

 

Books read last week:

• Thief of Time by Terry Pratchett. Fantasy. A clockmaker builds a clock to measure the tick of the universe and threatens to bring about the end of time. This is proof that when Pratchett is on, he writes such wonderful stories. Susan Sto Helit, once a nanny, is now a teacher, molding young minds in ways that bothers her headmistress. Death tries to round up the Four Horsemen with little success as they've moved on from apocalyptic concerns. Loved this book, but you should start with Mort and work your way through the Death books. 
• Full Fathom Five by Max Gladstone. Fantasy. A magic trader uncovers a plot to destroy idols that are becoming more than religious icons. My second Gladstone read after Three Parts Dead and my Bingo Prime Read. As always, he has interesting worldbuilding. He had a reference to The Master and Margarita, my prior week's read: "Manuscripts don't burn." 
• Cinder by Marissa Meyer. YA Science Fiction/Fantasy Fusion. A cyborg helps a prince repair his robot while trying to save her stepsister from a deadly plague.
• Classics of Russian Literature lecturer Irwin Weil. Classic Literature. A survey of important works in Russian literature. I loved this course and highly recommend it though I'd recommend reading a Russian history book or listening to a course to understand the background. If you have a high school student interested in Russia and its literature, this would be an excellent course to use.  I don't think I'll get to it this year, but I would like to re-listen to the course while reading the discussed books. My only quibble would be more information on why these authors and works were important, how they changed history, pushed writing, explored new themes. Otherwise, this is a top course for me, up there with Dante's Divine Comedy.

Reading this week:

• The Philosopher Kings by Jo Walton. Fantasy. Second in a series.
• When Christ and His Saints Slept by Sharon Kay Penman. Historical Fiction. Sequel to The Sunne in Splendour and my bingo read as I'm trying to finish these up.
• Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. Fantasy. This has been a slog for me to get through so I lost the e-book when the lending period expired and it doesn't look like the library renewed the license. I expect the physical book to come this week so I can finally finish.
• The Future of the Mind by Michio Kaku. Science-Neurobiology. My audio book. An interesting listen, but it requires me to pay close attention.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Rose, I saw this on the BBC News site and thought of you having just read Freedom at Midnight. 

 

A Country Divided: How it Affected Me

 

Thank you for posting. A very well done virtual exhibit.  I can't imagine how anyone recovers from what those people went through, as an individual or as a country. It's clear that it's still very raw for people who lived through it.

[Penguin]

Hello, all. I missed most of last week's thread, but I hope to review it. Seems like I missed the chance to add to my SciFi and Fantasy TBR list. I have always read fantasy, but now that I have a young adult son keen on SciFi, I am getting into reading it. 

 

I have made plans to attend the Library of Congress National Book Festival in September (Labor Day weekend, DC Convention Center). If anyone else is going, I would love to know!

 

--

I have FINALLY finished From the Beast To The Blonde: On Fairy Tales and Their Tellers.  :hurray: Yes, it was tedious. But I learned quite a bit, and I am glad that I stuck it out. Thank you, Robyn, for bringing it to my attention.

 

Finished Death and The Penguin by Andrey Kurkov. This NPR review calls it absurdist noir, and I find that an apt description for this odd little book. The protagonist is a journalist in Kiev who has a pet penguin - there were animals for the taking when the local zoo ran out of money. Penguins and organized crime: an unlikely but winning combination :) And it filled up my "Your Name in The Title" Bingo Square! I have already ordered the sequel.

 

I also read my first David Baldacci, Memory Man. I don't normally read thrillers, but my mom is a big fan and we are going to try to see him at the National Book Festival. So I asked her to pick out one for me. It was...brutal. It filled up my "Over 500 Pages" Bingo Square, but I left it unrated on Goodreads. I just felt so out of my element reading it, that I didn't feel qualified to rate it.

 

I am so excited to have 23 out of my 25 Bingo Books done!!  :hurray: All I have left is "Seaworthy" and "Outer Space."

 

 

 

Edited July 31, 2017 by Penguin

[Ethel Mertz]

I've been having a tough time keeping up with these threads lately. Not sure where I am in W&P as my edition (Garnett) doesn't have the same divisions (Parts, etc) as the ones talked about here. I've got a copy of the Maude translation, so will try comparing.

 

I've got more than a few books in (slow) progress. Am actively reading W&P, Lord of the Rings, Kaufman's Give War & Peace a Chance, Natasha's Dance by Orlando Figes, and Rosamunde Pilcher's The Shell Seekers. I've got Refuge by Dina Nayeri waiting in the wings.

 

Since I last posted, I've finished The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan (maybe 3 stars - the writing seemed uneven and the ending frustratingly inconclusive) as well as The Unsettlers: In Search of the Good Life in Today's America by Mark Sundeen. The latter was interesting in spots, but no where close to the magnetism of Scott & Helen Nearing's seminal work.

 

On other fronts - we are in the midst of making an offer on a new home. I've found it difficult to focus on much of anything except that process!

[Jane in NC]

On other fronts - we are in the midst of making an offer on a new home. I've found it difficult to focus on much of anything except that process!

Woohoo! Now that is exciting!

[Stacia]

.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Penguin]

(snip)

 

On other fronts - we are in the midst of making an offer on a new home. I've found it difficult to focus on much of anything except that process!

How exciting! I hope the process goes smoothly.

[Stacia]

.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Chrysalis Academy]

I finished Soulless. I enjoyed it, but I docked it a star because it was a little too much of a romance novel masquerading as something else for my tastes - I loved the characters, and the dialogue was sparkling, but I could have done without all the neck-nibbling. But, got the Steampunk square crossed off, and another Bingo:

 

47.Steampunk – Soulless – Gail Carriger
Sci-fi – Minority Report & Other Stories – Philp K. Dick
Geography or Maps –Prisoners of Geography: Ten Maps That Tell You Everything You Need to Know about Global Politics – Tim Marshall
Haruki Murakami – What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
Silk Road – The Silk Roads: A New History of the World – Peter Frankopan

[LaughingCat]

Read several books recently that really made me wish Goodreads allowed half stars:

Wildfire by Ilona Andrews

A Dragon of a Different Color by Rachel Aaron

Ready Player One

The Hungry Brain

Put them all at 4 stars, but I think they're all really 3 1/2 stars :)

 

Also read The Secret Life of Fat  -- 'eh' -- mostly finished this because I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep.

 

Starting.... Bound by Benedict Jacka

 

I used to re-read my favorite 60's-90's SF/Fantasy over and over -- then I had kids LOL.  This year it has been mostly stuff from the last few years.  

The good part is... that includes many recommendations from BaWers :)

 

 

 

[Stacia]

.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[mumto2]

Ethel, I hope all goes smoothly with your house purchase!

 

Yesterday I couldn't face my quilt so I read! I finished several of my in progress books and feel pretty pleased with things today. I always feel tremendous pressure when I have too many things going at once. I may play hooky from quilting again today and go shopping in York with my family, the only problem is rain (with lighting) is in the forecast so not sure how wet we are willing to be!

 

I finished The Last Templar which I plan to use for my middle ages Bingo square. It wasn't great but it is the first in a really successful series. Eventually I plan to give the next one a try because for lack of a better description the series shows promise.......

 

The Ritual Bath was a reread that I enjoyed enough to carry on with the series for now. I am relieved to say I think my Agatha Christie loving friend will be able to handle the crime descriptions. I am not saying that if you like AC you will find this book comfortable, my friend was looking for books set in Jewish Communities and this was the only series I could think of that she might enjoy. Any other ideas?

 

I also very carefully finished my fragile copy of Springwell which the library carefully pieced back together on several occasions. It was a typical DE Stevenson in terms of stars......I gave it 5! :lol: I always feel happy at the end of her books. Which is actually a wonderful recommendation I think.

[Jane in NC]

This is the summer of BaW excitement for me! Fellow BaWer Penguin has been in my neck of the woods, i.e. coastal Carolina. We met for breakfast this morning.  Over coffee, we discussed homeschooling and, of course, books.  No surprise that books were exchanged. 

 

Penguin shares my interest in Eastern European literature and also has recommendations for more Nordic reading. 

 

Fun to meet the amazing women of this group and of the WTM community!

[Penguin]

Yep, lucky me got to spend the morning with Jane in NC while I am in NC :)

 

One of the books that we talked about was Cafe Europa: Life After Communism by Slavenka Drakulic. The author is Croatian, and this book was published in 1996. The Eastern Europe that she writes about has disappeared, but instead of that making the book seem dated it makes it seem important. She has brilliantly captured the window of time when Croatia was post-Communism but (very) pre-EU. Drakulic is a great writer. Disclaimer: I am only 50% done :)

 

And Jane introduced me to Archipelago Books, and I am over the moon excited about their catalog!

Edited August 1, 2017 by Penguin

[Chrysalis Academy]

I just finished listening to Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World. Disclaimer: I hate bananas, and I always have. However, I'm very interested in agriculture, genetic engineering, and international trade, social justice, the history of trade in the americas, etc. and the story of the banana is absolutely bursting with all of that. This was a really well done book, super interesting and engaging while also challenging assumptions. For example, the author made an absolutely compelling case for why genetic modification makes sense in the case of the banana. And he offers suggestions that can be applied both locally and globally for the banana-enjoying public - of which I am not a member, but I still really appreciated this book. If you are interested in international trade, the history of the Americas, or, well, bananas. I highly recommend this book. 

[Jane in NC]

I just finished listening to Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World. Disclaimer: I hate bananas, and I always have. However, I'm very interested in agriculture, genetic engineering, and international trade, social justice, the history of trade in the americas, etc. and the story of the banana is absolutely bursting with all of that. This was a really well done book, super interesting and engaging while also challenging assumptions. For example, the author made an absolutely compelling case for why genetic modification makes sense in the case of the banana. And he offers suggestions that can be applied both locally and globally for the banana-enjoying public - of which I am not a member, but I still really appreciated this book. If you are interested in international trade, the history of the Americas, or, well, bananas. I highly recommend this book.

Jenn recommended this book too. On my list for a while now but some of us delay getting around to non-fiction.

 

On that note, I started listening to a book you recommended, Rose. The Fracture Zone: My Return to the Balkans, by Simon Winchester, immediately engaged me.

[Stacia]

.

Edited November 2, 2017 by Stacia

[Granny_Weatherwax]

I am still trudging through W&P. I find that I have to read W&P in the morning as it tends to make me sleepy. I'm doing much better with it now that I read it earlier in the day and save lighter fare for nighttime reading. I don't have a current audiobook so I checked out W&P on CD. I have lots of driving coming up and hope W&P will be easy to listen to while driving.

 

 

I'm currently reading:

The Nature Fix (non-fiction)

W&P 

How to Coach College Tennis (non-fiction)

 

I have to look through the free Kindle books for August and I have a slew of tennis coaching books and manuals to get through before Sept.

[Mothersweets]

Ethel, I hope all goes smoothly with your house purchase!

 

Yesterday I couldn't face my quilt so I read! I finished several of my in progress books and feel pretty pleased with things today. I always feel tremendous pressure when I have too many things going at once. I may play hooky from quilting again today and go shopping in York with my family, the only problem is rain (with lighting) is in the forecast so not sure how wet we are willing to be!

 

I finished The Last Templar which I plan to use for my middle ages Bingo square. It wasn't great but it is the first in a really successful series. Eventually I plan to give the next one a try because for lack of a better description the series shows promise.......

 

The Ritual Bath was a reread that I enjoyed enough to carry on with the series for now. I am relieved to say I think my Agatha Christie loving friend will be able to handle the crime descriptions. I am not saying that if you like AC you will find this book comfortable, my friend was looking for books set in Jewish Communities and this was the only series I could think of that she might enjoy. Any other ideas?

 

I also very carefully finished my fragile copy of Springwell which the library carefully pieced back together on several occasions. It was a typical DE Stevenson in terms of stars......I gave it 5! :lol: I always feel happy at the end of her books. Which is actually a wonderful recommendation I think.

 

I feel the same way after reading her books. I'll have to look for that one!

[mumto2]

I am still trudging through W&P. I find that I have to read W&P in the morning as it tends to make me sleepy. I'm doing much better with it now that I read it earlier in the day and save lighter fare for nighttime reading. I don't have a current audiobook so I checked out W&P on CD. I have lots of driving coming up and hope W&P will be easy to listen to while driving.

 

 

I'm currently reading:

The Nature Fix (non-fiction)

W&P 

How to Coach College Tennis (non-fiction)

 

I have to look through the free Kindle books for August and I have a slew of tennis coaching books and manuals to get through before Sept.

 

 

I have found War and Peace much much better as an audio book because it made me sleepy too! Listening to it is quite entertaining because it is honestly a bit like a long running soap opera. I think you will enjoy it as car entertainment. I ended up going way ahead because I knew I was going to be without the audio version for a few weeks so I haven't been commenting because I really don't know where everyone else is.

 

 

 

I just finished listening to Banana: The Fate of the Fruit that Changed the World. Disclaimer: I hate bananas, and I always have. However, I'm very interested in agriculture, genetic engineering, and international trade, social justice, the history of trade in the americas, etc. and the story of the banana is absolutely bursting with all of that. This was a really well done book, super interesting and engaging while also challenging assumptions. For example, the author made an absolutely compelling case for why genetic modification makes sense in the case of the banana. And he offers suggestions that can be applied both locally and globally for the banana-enjoying public - of which I am not a member, but I still really appreciated this book. If you are interested in international trade, the history of the Americas, or, well, bananas. I highly recommend this book.

 

 

I found myself reading your review and wondering if my dd (a fellow banana hater) would even be willing to read that book. I honestly doubt it so bonus points from me! ;)

 

  

I feel the same way after reading her books. I'll have to look for that one!

Summerhills is the second in a series but I think it could easily be enjoyed on its own. I think there is more carryover in characters than the other ones in a series by DE Stevenson that I have read but it's post war and everyone grew up so very different people. I was able to read Amberwell (the first one) on my Kindle thanks to Prime. I just discovered there is a third in the series .......

[Granny_Weatherwax]

 

 

I have found War and Peace much much better as an audio book because it made me sleepy too! Listening to it is quite entertaining because it is honestly a bit like a long running soap opera. I think you will enjoy it as car entertainment. I ended up going way ahead because I knew I was going to be without the audio version for a few weeks so I haven't been commenting because I really don't know where everyone else is.

 

<snip>

Yay! That's encouraging.  I have the boxed CD set from a non-renewable interlibrary loan so I have 21 days to listen to as much as I possibly can. 

 

 

ETA: I begin a new job today. A job that gives me unlimited access to the library at the local LAC. I am quite excited. There are some wonderful reading areas I plan to spend time in over the next few months.

Edited August 2, 2017 by Scoutermom

[Butter]

I finished reading The Driscoll Theory.  Other than the praise for how amazing the author and treatment regimen are that shows up throughout the book, I thought it was quite interesting.  We already suspected that Ani has Chiari Zero (though a lot of doctors don't believe that exists).  Several symptoms mentioned in the book are things she has (like turning to the left and the right side of her field of vision gets blurry and turning to the right and her left side of her field of vision gets blurry and feeling sick after eating a few bites) but she just thought those were normal things everyone dealt with.  She has a doctor's appointment tomorrow and I'm going to talk to her about Diamox because if that worked, it would be amazing and literally life-changing.  The Zyrtec/Zantac combo isn't really an option, nor does she seem to have a lot of the issues that would help (Zyrtec knocks her out for a full 24 hours - it does the same to me).  She has found that since she's been on Claritin for allergies and Benadryl for insomnia, the issues the Zyrtec/Zantac combo would treat have mostly resolved.

[fastweedpuller]

ETA: I begin a new job today. A job that gives me unlimited access to the library at the local LAC. I am quite excited. There are some wonderful reading areas I plan to spend time in over the next few months.

Congrats!  I want that job!

 

Jane, Penguin, Stacia:  thank you for the pub. recommendations!  (BANANA PRIDE, omgoat!  I have tomato pride right now)  For some reason multiquote is not working for me, grr.  Apropos of the Eastern European writers:  last year I read Thinking the Twentieth Century, which was an interview form between Timothy Snyder and Tony Judt, picking Judt's brain as he was sadly dying of cancer.  They both shared an abiding love of writers and the politics of that part of the world and I mention it because it was very enlightening *to me* the reasons why we, perhaps, remain clueless about it.  Judt and Snyder are, as dh laughingly would call them, "in-tuh-LEC-tchulls" of "hees-TOR-ic LEEET-rit-churrrr" and frankly I think the light of the world has dimmed now that Judt is no longer with us.  (btw, reading Snyder's On Tyranny now in snippet form for maximum effect.)

 

Mumto2 and Scoutermom, maybe it's (my) age, but I really like reading in the early morning now.  Excepting those instances of hormonally induced insomnia, I can't get much reading accomplished before bed any longer.  SIGH